The Bright, the Dark, and the Blue Face of Narcissism: The Spectrum of Narcissism in Its Relations to the Metatraits of Personality, Self-Esteem, and the Nomological Network of Shyness, Loneliness, and Empathy

Abstract

Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism seem to be uncorrelated in empirical studies, yet they share at least some theoretical similarities. In the current study, we examine the relation between grandiose (conceptualized as admiration and rivalry) and vulnerable narcissism in the context of the Big Five personality traits and metatraits, self-esteem, and their nomological network. To this end, participants (N = 314) filled in a set of self-report measures via an online survey. Rivalry was positively linked with both admiration and vulnerable narcissism. We replicated the relations of admiration and rivalry with personality traits and metatraits—as well as extended existing knowledge by providing support for the theory that vulnerable narcissism is simultaneously negatively related to the Stability and Plasticity. Higher scores on vulnerable narcissism and rivalry predicted having fragile self-esteem, whereas high scores on admiration predicted having optimal self-esteem. The assumed relations with the nomological network were confirmed, i.e., vulnerable narcissism and admiration demonstrated a contradictory pattern of relation to shyness and loneliness, whilst rivalry predicted low empathy. Our results suggest that the rivalry is between vulnerable narcissism and admiration, which supports its localization in the self-importance dimension of the narcissism spectrum model. It was concluded that whereas admiration and rivalry represent the bright and dark face of narcissism, vulnerable narcissism represents its blue face.

Seeking a Common Framework for Research on Narcissism: An Attempt to Integrate the Different Faces of Narcissism within the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits

“…The results reported in the current study provide an opportunity to rethink the structure of narcissism on the basis of the theoretical foundations laid by the NSM (Krizan & Herlache, ) and elaborated on by the CPM (Strus & Cieciuch, ). Reports from previous research on grandiose narcissism (Kowalski, Vernon, & Schermer, ; Miller, Lynam, Hyatt, & Campbell, ; Rogoza, Żemojtel‐Piotrowska, et al, ) and vulnerable narcissism (Miller, Lynam, Vize, et al, ; Rogoza et al, ) have been generally supported by our results.…”

“…Vulnerable narcissism has been found to be located in greatest proximity to Gamma‐Minus/Disharmony, which is primarily defined by high neuroticism, just as expected (Strus & Cieciuch, ). Apart from neuroticism, of great interest is the nature of its other major component, which has been the subject of much debate: Miller, Lynam, Vize, et al () suggested a relationship with low agreeableness in contrast to Rogoza et al () who argued for low extraversion. The present results corroborate both of these claims as some entitlement rage has been found to represent social antagonism and was located near Alpha‐Minus/Disinhibition, while hiding the self represents apathy and submissiveness, and was located near Beta‐Minus/Passiveness.…”

“…Moreover, the NSM focuses on narcissistic traits and individual differences, so it is unclear how the NSM is related to broader models aimed at synthetizing the description of personality structure. There are a few examples supporting the need for such exploration in the personality literature: (i) Leary () was probably the first to demonstrate that agency and communion can be used to describe narcissism (Bakan, ; Wiggins, ); (ii) Paulhus () proposed the Big Five Model of Narcissism where he argued that personality traits can synthesize into an emergent personality type equivalent to narcissism; (iii) Rogoza, Żemojtel‐Piotrowska, Kwiatkowska, and Kwiatkowska () argued that the metatraits of personality from the Two‐Factor Model of personality (i.e. Plasticity and Stability; Cieciuch & Strus, ; Digman, ; DeYoung, Peterson, & Higgins, ) can also be used to advance research on narcissism.…”

“…First, the CPM model is based on two higher‐order factors (i.e. metatraits), Alpha/Stability and Beta/Plasticity (Cieciuch & Strus, ); thus, it corresponds to the metatrait perspective on narcissism (Rogoza et al, ). Second, the CPM was derived from Big Five research (Strus et al, ), and thus, it coincides with the Big Five Model of Narcissism (Paulhus, ).…”

“…Indeed, decades of empirical research on narcissism have led to three conclusions: (i) the core trait of narcissism (representing self‐importance) is low agreeableness (Back et al, ; Muris, Merckelbach, Otgaar, & Meijer, ; Miller & Maples, ; Paulhus, ; Rogoza, Żemojtel‐Piotrowska, Rogoza, Piotrowski, & Wyszyńska, ; Rogoza, 2018); (ii) the distinctive trait of vulnerability but not grandiosity is neuroticism (i.e. it is positively related to the former and not related to the latter; Hendin & Cheek, ; Jauk, Weigle, Lehmann, Benedek, & Neubauer, ; Miller, Lynam, Hyatt, & Campbell, ; Miller, Lynam, Vize, et al, ); and (iii) the farther the NSM narcissisms move away from the core towards grandiosity or vulnerability, the greater the role of extraversion (high in grandiosity and low in vulnerability; Campbell & Miller, ; Hendin & Cheek, ; Houlcroft, Bore, & Munro, ; Miller et al, ; Miller, Lynam, Hyatt, & Campbell, ; Rogoza et al, ). Thus, within the CPM, the core of narcissism as identified by the NSM (i.e.…”